Meeting with Neonatologist/NICU Tour

My husband and I had an appointment with a neonatologist Monday afternoon. He spoke with us about what to expect during our stay at the NICU and went over what's developmental stages of various preemies. I took vigorous notes during our consult and only cried once, so I felt like it was a pretty successful visit. Afterwards we toured the facility. They have private rooms and really encourage parental involvement in the care of the babies. While no one ever wants their baby or babies to spend time in the NICU, we know that they will spend some time there (since the latest they'll let us deliver is 34 weeks). I guess it was nice to visit with one of the doctors in advance and get some answers to some of our questions.

Below are the notes I took:

Overland Park Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Facility

• Level 3 NICU
• 40-60 babies in unit at a given time
• All babies born at 36 weeks will spend some time in the NICU
• Not a teaching hospital (not a lot of residents)
• 2 fulltime social workers

Care Team

• Neonatologists (2-3 there at a given time)
• Nurse practitioners (4-6 there at a given time)
• Nurses
• Respiratory therapists

Delivery/C-Section

• Husband is only family allowed in the delivery room
• NICU care team present:
• Neonatologists
• Nurse practitioners
• Nurses
• Respiratory therapists
• After birth will be assessed in the delivery room and we will get to see them
• Babies will then go up to NICU (hubby can stay with Mom or go with babies)
• After recovery (a couple hours after birth) Mom gets wheeled up to NICU in bed to see babies

Parents

• Have unlimited access - no visiting hours
• Encouraged to help with care:
• Holding
• Feeding
• Changing diapers
• Taking temp

Visitors

• Friends and family welcome
• Young children discouraged (not permitted during cold/flu season)
• Up to 4 people put on the list to be with babies when parents aren’t present
• 3-4 visitors at a time

Babies

• To be released from NICU, need to be able to do three things on their own:
• Breathing
• Steroid shot given towards end of pregnancy to help lungs (accelerates the production of surfactant)
• Babies will likely be on respirator (tubes) or CPAP machine (less invasive)

Eating by mouth

• Typically happens by 34 weeks
• Babies breast fed do better (breast milk is fortified)

Maintaining body temp

• Isolettes help with this
• 4.5-5 lbs is typically when babies are big enough to maintain their body temp on their own

Most babies go home around 36-38 weeks

Babies could go home at different times

ELBW (extremely low birth weight) babies

• Born between 23 and 26 weeks
• Could have long term lung problems
• Lucky to be home by due date

Stages of Preemies

• 23 weeks – age of viability (survival rate low)
• 25 weeks – over 50% survival rate
• 28 weeks – 95% survival rate (27-28 weeks considered “good outcome”)